SWITCH YOUR FOCUS GENRE
Learn to successfully take on new challenges by rebooting your business specialisms while minimising risk
IT IS DIFFICULT FOR A PHOTOGRAPHER TO BECOME SO ESTABLISHED IN A PHOTOGRAPHIC GENRE THAT THEIR BUSINESS IS ENTIRELY SUPPORTED BY THE CREATION OF A SINGLE TYPE OF
IMAGE. MANY WORKING PROS DREAM OF BEING ABLE TO SOLELY SHOOT WEDDINGS, PORTRAITS
OR, EVEN MORE RARELY, SPORTS, LANDSCAPE OR WILDLIFE IMAGES. THEREFORE IT COMES AS NO SURPRISE THAT THE DECISION TO CHANGE GENRE, ONCE ALREADY SUPPORTED BY AN EXISTING
CLIENT BASE, IS NOT AN EASY ONE TO MAKE. A PHOTOGRAPHER MAY CHOOSE TO SWITCH THE FOCUS OF THEIR BUSINESS DUE TO MARKET DEMANDS – WHILE HISTORICALLY THERE MAY HAVE BEEN A STRONG DEMAND FOR A CERTAIN TYPE OF PHOTOGRAPHY, CHANGES IN THE ECONOMY
AND SOCIAL EXPECTATION CAN RAPIDLY DIMINISH CUSTOM. EXAMPLES OF THIS ARE WEDDING AND PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY – MANY MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC ARE NOW CONTENT WITH IMAGES MADE ON SMARTPHONES OR ENTRY-LEVEL DSLRS, NOTABLY DILUTING DEMAND FOR HIGH-STREET WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY. ALTERNATIVELY, NEW OPPORTUNITIES MAY PRESENT THEMSELVES IN EMERGING MARKETS, MAKING IT MORE PROFITABLE TO ADJUST THE PROMOTED
SPECIALISM OF YOUR SERVICES.
THE CORE CHALLENGES OF PURSUING SUCH A SHIFT ARE VARIED AND PROFOUND HOWEVER. WHEN TRYING TO ADVERTISE YOUR WORK IN
THE NEW GENRE, YOU ENCOUNTER THE SAME COMPLICATIONS AS ANY START-UP BUSINESS, INCLUDING A LACK OF CUSTOMER AWARENESS AND PERCEIVED EXPERTISE. THIS IS ACCOMPANIED BY A REVERSAL IN THE BENEFIT OF YOUR BRAND IDENTITY – WHILE THIS USED TO BE AN ASSET IN
promoting your proficiency in a chosen field, it may now act to disrupt the formation of a new list of loyal clients. this may be due to public perception of your specialisms or search engine functionality, both of which can result in potential customers overlooking your availability. furthermore there are issues relating to a lack of materials, incorporating cameras, lenses, genre-specific accessories and printing requirements.
potential solutions can be sought in adaptability and advanced preparation. A first consideration should be how to migrate your existing client base. think carefully about which of your regular return customers may have requirements compatible with your new business model and inform them of your new focus. Start this process early – once you have decided to make adjustments to your business, immediately think about advertising and use newsletters or email marketing to build awareness. the key concept is to make your transition gradual – leave yourself plenty of time to alter the presentation of your brand, using current assignments to inform people of planned changes. use new business cards alongside current ones to make the shift seem more organic.
the end goal should be to encourage a flow of business from two sources – frontof-house clients, who are first-time users of your services and also pre-existing customers, whom you have brought with you from previous assignments. the former will likely take longer to establish, as with all new businesses, so work on the latter in advance of conducting your first jobs. unless you intend to operate a multi-genre business, which is a substantially different strategy, try to minimise the duration of overlap between shoot types. this is an essential consideration, since attempting to shoot many different subjects requires a greater range of equipment and time allocation (see ‘commit for efficiency’ boxout).
ultimately your success at changing business type depends on the timing and efficient execution of the process.